A Network Approach to a Geometric Packing Problem

We investigate a geometric packing problem (derived from an industrial setting) that involves fitting patterns of regularly spaced disks without overlap. We first derive conditions for achieving a feasible placement of a given set of patterns and then construct a network formulation that facilitates the calculation of such a placement. A heuristic utilizing this network representation is also outlined. Additionally, we show a connection to the well-known Periodic Scheduling Problem.